Even before that dust-up, Phil Gordon sounded really bitter and passive-aggressive. If he was trying to be light-hearted, then he needs to work hard on his delivery. It seemed like no one was amused at the table.

Gordon is just a nerd with bad social skills. He's a nice guy and doesn't ever really mean to insult or degrade anybody. But he simply can't communicate with people very well, and that's why he's an outsider to their clique.

When he made that opening speech: "I usually try to surround myself with idiots at the table but I failed to do that tonight" it came off as really awkward. What did he expect, people to laugh that he "tricked" them with the first half of the sentence and then finished with a compliment?

It's just something nerds do because there's a big disconnect between how they think people react and how they actually react.